Robert Reich Quotes

Leadership involves persuasion, and conciliation, and education and patience. It's long, slow, tough work. That is the only kind of leadership I know or will believe in, or will practice.

I don't lead with an iron fist. I don't yell at people. I have a way of making my opinion clear.

Leadership does not depend on being right.

There is no better way to manage than by walking around. Autocracy doesn't work. Talk to people in their offices, find out what's on their minds.

Great leadership can be a difficult thing to pin down and understand. You know a great leader when you're working for one, but even they can have a hard time articulating what it is that makes their leadership so effective.

In the end, leadership comes down to consistency and strong, confident action upon which the team can rely - and this doesn't mean imposing a bunch of rules.

The new leader is a facilitator, not an order giver.

Good leadership is to know when to go, and you only succeed as a good leader if you've transported someone else in and the company gets stronger. Then you've succeeded as leader.

When you are in a growth company, you have to really open people's eyes to the bigger possibilities so they think differently. Once they understand how to define success and what their role is in success, they make better decisions, and you can push decision-making down.

And I'd say one of the great lessons I've learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership.

All I've ever tried to do is get the best out of people and to bring a bit of humour into it. Unlike, say, 'The X-Factor,' which may be great TV, but has no humour at all.

We lead by influence. That is what good leadership is about.

In order to have your short term policies accepted, you have to have your long term policies understood.

We're so used to thinking in the short term, and the minute you speak in more long-term language then you tend to get dismissed as utopian and so on. We have a real problem here in making long-term thinking respectable

Leadership does not mean domination

Many leaders are tempted to lead like a chess master, striving to control every move, when they should be leading like gardeners, creating and maintaining a viable ecosystem in which the organization operates.

If leadership is something that is in-your-face, then that is a different type of leadership.

A good leader doesn't get stuck behind a desk.

Good leaders make people's strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant.

Leaders play a unique role in periods of crisis and chaos. Because if you don't, you're not going to harness the power of all the people behind you.

As a leader, you have to have a vision that inspires people around you.

Each member of the team must feel important - everyone must make my life and choices difficult.

I am always interested in looking for the strongest possible leadership.

Successful leaders surround themselves with intelligent people.

A good leader, in my view, should have a clear vision of the future they want and the society they need to build. They must also have a connection with the people who work for them and be able to mobilise their best energies to create teams where people can be most creative and happy.